The AFL's Executive Paywatch <http://www.aflcio.org/corporateamerica/paywatch/> website, which since 1997 has tracked excesses in executive pay, recently added a feature that documents the spread of lavish pension benefits granted to CEOs and other top corporate officials. The site looks at the supplemental retirement plans that have been put in place at about 15 companies (among them General Electric, Halliburton and Verizon) at a time when many firms are looking for ways to further shrink the retirement benefits offered to lower-level employees.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Unionbuster filings now available on the web

Rick Rehberg writes:

At long last, the Bush/Chao Labor Department has made "Labor Relations Consultants" (aka unionbusters) financial reports available through the Web. Union financial reports have been available electronically for some time.

Form LM-10, Employer Reports -- Employers disclose who they hired, what union they were busting, and how much they paid.

Form LM-20, Agreement and Activities Report -- Consultants disclose who hired them and what services they provided.

Form LM-21, Receipts and Disbursements Report -- Annual report, Consultants disclose amounts paid by each employer listed in the LM-20s.

According to the FAST Labor CD index of "Labor Relations Consultants" the Department of Labor should have filings available on 543 unionbusters. So far the DOL website lists only 61 unionbusters nationwide. But its a start.

The International Labor Organization recently released a report called Organized Labor in the 21st Century that surveys the state of collective bargaining around the world, with special focus on ten countries: Japan, Sweden, the United States, Chile, Israel, South Korea, Lithuania, Ghana, India and Niger. The 419-page report, which can be downloaded in PDF athttp://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inst/download/orglabour.pdf, is especially concerned with the way in which unions have responded to globalization.

"Competitive intelligence" is the polite term for the widespread practice of corporate espionage. The new issue of CSO Magazine, a publication for corporate security executives, contains a fascinating article by Sarah Scalet <http://www.idg.net/ic_1314055_9677_1-5046.html> on the techniques of business spies. The piece shows how some of the most useful information is gathered offline rather than by computer.

Public Citizen recently posted on its website scores of documents relating to the the federal lobbying efforts of Enron in the years preceding the explosive revelations about corruption within the energy trading company. The documents focus on lobbying at the Treasury Department, which released the papers in heavily redacted form. To see the documents, go tohttp://www.citizen.org/cmep/energy_enviro_nuclear/electricity/Enron/foia/.

The third annual Empowering Democracy conference for corporate campaigners will take place June 5-8 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The event will include plenary presentations on topics such as the post-Enron environment and corporate personhood as well as numerous workshops teaching skills such as shareholder activism, power analysis and corporate research. The registration deadline is May 22. For more information, see http://www.empoweringdemocracy.org/.

The Government Printing Office has put online the complete text of the five volumes of McCarthy era hearing transcripts recently published by the Senate Committee on Government Affairs. The volumes, which total more than 3,000 pages, can be accessed at http://www.gpo.gov/congress/senate/senate12cp107.html. The closed-door hearings, which took place in 1953 and 1954, covered topics such as supposed subversion and espionage in the defense industry.